From George Washington to Fielding Lewis, 2 March 1780
To Fielding Lewis
Hd Qrs Morris-town March 2d 1780
Dear Sir,
Before Colo. Fairfax left Virginia he prevailed on me to accept a power of attorney for the general superintendance of his business in that State.1 Upon my appointment to the command of the American Army I wrote him that it was no longer in my power to do justice to the trust he had reposed in me & begged him to make choice of some other for this purpose.2 this request I repeated in several letters but never obtained an answer till lately3—He now desires that I wd prevail on Mr Nicholas— yourself—or some other Gentn of character to do him this favor—I have already wrote to Mr Nicholas on this subject4 & shall be glad in case of his refusal to know if you will undertake the business as I believe his Steward—Collector of Rents—& seat at Belvoir stand much in need of the superintending eye of some person that will see justice done him.5
An Answer to this Letter as soon as possible will much oblige Dr Sir Yr Most Obedt & affecte Serv
Go: Washington
ALS (retained copy), DLC:GW; Varick transcript, DLC:GW.
1. See George William Fairfax to GW, 1 Jan. 1773, and GW to Fairfax, 19 Jan. 1773, in 9:153, 159–60.
2. See GW to Fairfax, 26 July 1775.
3. Fairfax had responded to one of GW’s “many letters”—GW’s letter of 11 March 1778—on 3 Aug. 1778, but GW did not receive a copy of the reply until late October 1779 (see GW to Robert Carter Nicholas, 2 Nov. 1779; see also Fairfax to GW, 25 May and 5 Dec. 1779, and Sarah Cary Fairfax and George William Fairfax to GW, 12 Aug. 1779).
4. See GW to Nicholas, 2 Nov. 1779.
5. Fairfax’s collector was Craven Peyton, and his steward was Francis Willis, Jr. (1745–1829). Willis had served as a captain in Col. William Grayson’s Additional Continental Regiment from January 1777 to May 1778, when he left the army. Lewis replied on 4 April, declining to take on the power of attorney (PPRF). For GW’s account of his unsuccessful attempts to delegate the power of attorney, as well as a general review of his management of George William Fairfax’s affairs, see GW to Fairfax, 30 June 1786, in 4:135–41.